Confessions of Zeno Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 6, Psychoanalysis Summary

Chapter 6, Psychoanalysis Summary

This chapter, unlike the others, takes the form of several subsequent journal entries. Zeno begins by revealing that Dr. S., his psychoanalyst, believes Zeno to be finally cured. Because of a particularly revealing dream that Zeno describes to the doctor, Dr. S. pronounces that Zeno's true problem is that he desires his mother and wishes death on his father, and now that Zeno has realized this, he is truly cured. Although it is ambiguous, there are some hints that Dr. S. is short for Sigmund Freud. The only problem is that Zeno does not feel cured at all. The doctor insists that when Zeno accepts his latent desires, he can finally allow himself to be healthy and will no longer be bothered by imaginary aches and pains. Zeno, frustrated by Dr. S.'s insistence, starts making up "dreams" that directly reference the story of Oedipus,...
(read more)